Still Waters Run Deep!

Sure Sign the Flood Waters Have Receded

The water is gone from the road at Gulungul but there isn't much road left. Big chunks of what used to be the shoulder on the right side are now in the gutter on the left side.

Speed Bump NT Style!!!

The NT News is online, you can read it at:

http://ntnews.news.com.au/

Yawk Yawk

YAWK YAWK ( Kubarrku Family )

Yawk Yawk are female water spirits that closely resemble the European idea of mermaids. Half spirit, half fish, they entice unwary fishermen beneath the water of the lagoons that are their domain throughout Arnhem Land. They may have long hair like reeds of trailing water weed and can take on the features of fish or body of a snake. When fully grown Yawk Yawk spirits can leave their water hole to forage for food by changing their fishtails into legs to walk on dry land or assume the shape of a dragonfly to fly.Yawk Yawk figures are also closely associated with Ngaloyd, the Rainbow Serpent and can be associated with sorcery.
Here is a photo of Marena and the Yawk Yawk she made for us. I love it, can see it hanging on the wall of the living room. Marena is from Maningrida, a station far out in Arnhem Land and they do the most amazing art there. You can visit their website at:

http://www.maningrida.com

The babies are her grandchildren.

Ark Construction on Hold

Well the rain has slowed, hasn't stopped but it has slowed down therefore the earth has more time to soak it up and the floods are disappearing. They are bringing in fruit and veg by plane today and can now truck it in from the airport. For the last couple of days we couldn't get to the airport which is about 10 k outside of town. Here is a photo taken by a mate of mine, Andy Ralph, it shows Gulunlgul Creek flooding the road. The white bus up to its headlights in the water is one of the buses Ranger Mine uses to ferry miners from Jabiru out to the mine.

Just a note of interest, Andy is the boss cocky at Kakadu Culture Camp and our local movie star. He is the boat pilot in the giant croc movie "ROGUE". Kakadu Culture Camp is one of many tours that you can take to get a real feel of Kakadu when you come to visit. Have a look at their website:

http://www.kakaduculturecamp.com/

Andy and his little daughter Katherine always remind me of Steve and Bindy, they both wear their khaki proudly and Katherine is bright and cute as can be!

Still Raining Still Flooding or No Mail Again Today

The first creek on the way to the mine. We were talking to a local aboriginal guy and he said he hasn't seen it this bad ever!!! A Land Cruiser went past us and ploughed through, he didn't come back so I guess he made it, but we wouldn't try in the jeep. I think I will get a snorkel on it next time in town though, that will allow us to go through slightly deeper water in the future.



The helicopters stayed in town last night, they will probably need them today to evacuate Oenpelli and Mudginberri.



Have a look at the playground yesterday and this morning, the lake is pouring over the spillway and it is still overflowing its banks, there is one more outlet, a sluice gate they call it, that is going to have to be opened soon. That will put a lot of water down in the bush below the town, not good for the wallabies, dingos and other wildlife, there is also a sewage pumping station down there, not raw sewage just storm drain water but that will probably get swamped, then it will be all up to gravity or should I say down to gravity!!



Not a good day for a picnic!!



The first creek on the way to Darwin. The Cat truck tried to go through and drowned his engine, he was waiting for the tow truck, we wouldn't even think about trying it! The top pic was yesterday morning, the bottom approximately 24 hours later.

Road Closings and Assorted Problems

This is a copy of the NT Road Conditions WebSite. If you want up to the minute conditions, go to the web address shown at the top of the page. We are well and truly marooned and will be for quite a while the way it looks! We can't even get out to the airport to fly out, but I did see 2 helicopters around this afternoon so it is not hopeless!

The Plovers Are Loving It

Haute Couture for Scooter Riders in the Wet

We Take Good Care of the Kids in Jabiru

We put signs up and everything so they know to keep an eye out while they are hanging at the playground!

Actually there is usually a lot of ground between the edge of the lake and the playground, that sign normally is no where near the water, but we are flooding all over the place! And it is still raining and is supposed to continue for the next 3 days at least.

Daily Rainfall Amount

Just read it in the paper, Jabiru received 300mm of rain in one day, that is almost 12 inches. Can't wait to see what we received altogether when this low moves on, if it ever does!!!

The REAL Wet Is Here!!!

Appropriate sign!

The monsoon trough is hovering over us and hasn't moved for 3 days now. That means steady walls of water coming down, no hint of sun or blue sky. There are some people who say they enjoy the wet much more than the dry but I am starting to seriously miss the sunshine! Up til now we had some water about but I think now there is more than last year probably because it is coming all at once and there is no time in between downpours for the previous to dissipate. The road I travel into Darwin is closed, completely washed out at a couple of spots and the long way via Pine Creek is passable for big trucks but I don't know if I would want to try it in the jeep. We went out to 3 Bridges this morning for a look and as you will see in the pics, the water was across the road, must have just come up because there was no warning sign, usually Parks has portable signs out ahead of the water so you don't hit it at high speed and blind yourself in the wash. No croc sightings on the roads yet but with this much water about, it won't be long til the Kamikaze Crocs appear again.

This is just about a kilometer outside of town, wasn't much more than a puddle a little bit ago, now it could be used for white water rafting, well almost.



It is building up on both sides of the road.



And some places, it is already across! This is in between bridge 1 and bridge 2, won't be long before this is impassable.



It is very close to coming across this bridge, that was about 4 hours ago, could be over by now.




This is the road out to Magela, we went through it but as you can see by the next pic, we couldn't get to Magela, the last flood plain before it was way too deep, someone must have pinched the depth marker but it was deeper than I have seen it before.